Broken Within
by TrueManevolanGirl4899
Summary: A girl who's been burned, blamed, and abandoned. What happened so long ago that can't be repaired between them?
1. Calling into the Darkness

"Samara, Star, Sapphire! Get her out of here! Go!" My heart pounds as I run. My crooked legs feel as if knives are digging into them. My chest heaves and it is becoming harder and harder to breathe. The pounding footsteps behind me suddenly sound scattered and confused as my tigers barrel through them, with Star carrying my friends to safety.

How did it all come to this? Even I am at a loss for ideas. Maybe I should take a nap.

Yes, a nap sounds delightful… my soft pillow is calling my name… (_Nia...Nia… You know you're tired…_)

NO! Stop it Nia! You need to think! If you hesitate for even a minute, all is lost! Keep going! You have to! If only for them… for them…

The light dims, and I can feel myself losing consciousness. Not. Good. My mind grows fuzzy, and I seem to forget the events of the past few thousand years.

_My brother…_

_ I want-need- my brother…_

_ Where is he…?_

_ Aster…_

_ Where have you been?_

Jamie and Sophie are in shock. They scream, unable to stop, as Nia grows farther and farther away. They are almost completely unaware of the Guardian's arrival. The sleigh stops in front of them and the Guardians aim whatever weapons they have at the tigers that are carrying them.

The tigers growl, yet slowly, gently, lower Sophie and her brother to the ground. North asks what happened. Who did this? But Jamie and Sophie are silent. They will not betray their friend to the Guardians; they promised her that they would never tell. Ever.

Tooth stops North from questioning them further. She can seem to sense that they don't want to talk about it. Jamie and Sophie climb into the sleigh with Bunny's help, and for all their shaking, they are unhurt otherwise. Thanks to her. But, of course, the Guardians will never know that. Hopefully.

The Guardians, seeing that it will be sunrise soon, deliver Jamie and Sophie home, clean them up, and help them crawl into bed.

When the Guardians returned to the North Pole, they focused all their efforts into finding out what happened. Especially E. Aster Bunnymund. He knew those tigers: he had seen them before. He just didn't know what it meant.

**Hey, peoples! This is my first ever story on Fanfiction, or actually, any site like this ever. I just hope you like it! Please read and review! Thanks!**


	2. The Story of Summer

**I realized that I did not state a disclaimer in the previous chapter, so here goes:**

**I do NOT own ROTG in any way an am NOT doing this for any type of compensation. Please don't sue me. I own only my own character, Aestas Autumn Araenia.**

**Thank you, now please enjoy Chapter Two:**

Nia wakes up in a tree hollow. Her legs ache, her head pounds, and it still hurts to breathe but other than that she is in absolutely no pain at all. Of course, there is the fact that it feels like she has broken her wrist or something and that she has just woken up from being passed out for who-knows-how-long in a strange tree in the middle of a strange forest. How's that for a sad life?

There is a rustling of leaves down below. Nia struggles to sit up and looked out. She winces as sunlight hits her. As a summer fairy (Even with no wings; those had been ripped off in a battle not too long ago. But they _would_ grow back. Eventually.) she _should_ love the sunlight. But as you've probably figured out by now, she doesn't lead a normal 'spirit' life.

She's always been partial to darkness. Her favorite color is black, and she doesn't like the sun. Or the moon. Especially the moon, for reasons of her own.

Of course, nobody else ever understands that. She doesn't blame them: even she admits that she is suspicious. But they don't have to rub it in all the time. It seems like they'll never let her forget the incident. It wasn't her fault, and nobody ever knew how guilty she felt afterwards.

When judging her, they never took into account how scared she was. She really was just a child, and willing to admit it; even at thousands of years old. Physically she was only 14, so that had to count for something.

The only one who ever stood up for her or comforted her was Sandman. But even he held himself at a distance.

So, after thousands of years living in solitude, no one could have imagined her joy at finding a child, _two_ children, that could see her. She visited nearly every day, up until now, when everything went wrong.

Looking out of the tree, she sees Samara, Star, and Sapphire pacing below. She smiles. Besides Jamie and Sophie, these tigers are her only friends. They won't let anything hurt her.

She suddenly gasps as a searing pain runs down her back. Her wings are reemerging. _Great! Six months of pain!_

Nia was exaggerating as always though. Her wings took 3 times less time to grow out fully than any other fairy she knew. In fact, she was lucky that they grew back at all, and to have them come back so fast was pretty much unheard of.

She becomes still for a moment though, as she wonders, completely off topic, why she is in the tree hollow. Who moved her there? Did she move herself? Not likely, as she was unconscious.

Sometimes, she makes herself feel pretty stupid. **(Let's have a show of hands to see how often you do this to yourself, shall we?)**

Leaning out in the sun so long has made her feel faint, so she leans back in to contemplate more about her awful life. She closes her eyes as one word in particular comes to mind, recurring over and over, no matter how hard she tries to expel the word for her brain.

_ Brother._

**Space**

The Guardians are gathered around a table, the air tense. You can tell there has been arguing between them and it is pretty clear what it is the, and it is pretty clear what it is they are arguing about, if one listens:

North: **I agree with Bunny. It is very important zat ve find out vat attacked little children. And also vy Aestas' tigresses vere zere. **

Tooth: **But they can't have been Nia's tigers! Nia is, well, dead.**

Bunny: **We don' know tha' Tooth. She could still be ou' there waitin' to hurt more children.**

Sandy frowns thoughtfully. He is still not convinced of Nia's guilt. But it is too late now, for she has been dead for millennia, hasn't she?

Jack: **Who's Nia?**

Silence.

The Guardians look at one another uneasily. Tooth flutters her wings nervously. Bunny's eyes darken as he turns away.

Bunny:** She's nobody. A traitor. She betrayed all of us. You're lucky you didn' know her.**

Jack: **She can't have been that bad-**

Tooth: **No, Jack, you don't understand. As much as I hate to say it, she was that bad. She hurt children, innocent children, purposefully. You see, she was once Guardian like you. She was very important. She was the MiM's lieutenant. At the physical age of 14, she looked like a child, though, in reality, she was more powerful than all of us combined. She was the first spirit MiM ever created.**

** Her companions were six white tigers, named Samara, Star, Sapphire, Snow, Serpent, and Tilly. They never left her side, day or night, they were always with her, and thus, they perished with her. **

** We were never really close to her. Well, none of us except for Bunny. She was his sister.**

Here Tooth's voice drops a little.

Tooth: **Yet, even though they were brother and sister, nothing Bunny did could influence his sister once she had turned evil. She denied it all of course, but we knew it was her. The only one who wasn't against her was Sandy. But then, one night, we witnessed her hurt a child with our own eyes. It was then that we banished her from contact with children ever again and exiled her to the Dark Woods, which is where all evil lives.**

** Later that very year, we witnessed her death, as she was attacked by goblins. We were sorry to see her die of course, but we all knew in our hearts that she deserved it. Thus is the sad tale of Aestas Autumn Araenia, Bringer of Summer, and Ex-Lieutenant of MiM himself.**

The room was silent, except for the quiet breathing of it's inhabitants. Jack was shocked; all trace of fun was gone from his eyes. Sandy still frowned as if he still didn't believe she was guilty and Bunny was tense.

Jack: **What was she like before she, um, turned evil?**

Tooth smiled a very sad smile.

Tooth: **As sad as it is, even Bunny didn't know much about her. She was very secretive, though we do know that her favorite color was black, and she didn't like the sun. Or, at least, she didn't mind the sun, but, according to her, it was the light that just didn't click with her. She was scared of spiders, though, and needles, and other people. And she was an amazing fighter, but that's about as much as we knew about her. She did have wings and she flew with me sometimes. Actually, once she got a little used to you, she was a very sweet child.**

At this, a shadow of doubt flickered over the Tooth Fairy's face, as if, for a moment, she was wondering if the girl was innocent. But it was gone before she knew it was there.

**Space**

**Hello, my lovelies! I'm really sorry, the beginning part was kind of slow, but I needed to get some of her personality in there. I hope knowing her "background" will help you understand the story a little more. Down there, there is a box. You type in it, and click review. Come on. You know you want to.**

**Also, the first chapter was more of an introduction. I can promise you right now that there will never be another chapter that short. You have my vow that I will not post unless the chapter is at least 1,000 words long. If you have any ideas at all, please tell me. I'm basically just winging this right now because I'm more the 'sit-down-and-start-typing-whatever-comes-to-mind' kind of person.**

**PM me if you have anything to say. At all. Please. I'd love to hear from you.**

**Pronunciation-**

**Aestas = I-stes, long i sound, with 'stes', like 'stress', but without the 'r'.**

**Araenia = A-ray-nee-uh**

**Thanks,**

**TrueManevolanGirl4899**

**Also, I hope this isn't too hard to read. I just didn't bother with quotation marks, but trust me, the rest of the story will no be like that. **


	3. She Lived

**Here I repeat my disclaimer from Chapter 2.**

**Hello! I would like to thank the wonderful people who reviewed my story! You are amazing and I love you so much!**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: First of all, I love your name. It's so beautiful! You've given me a few really great ideas to do for this story! So I shall take your advice, and because of that, this chapter right here is dedicated to you! Thank you soooo much and I would love to hear what you think about it!**

**CrimsonSun45: Yes, I agree, poor girl indeed. Thank you for reading my story and reviewing!**

**Now, this chapter is a little different. It is basically Nia's story, but through Nia's eyes. I don't just mean what the Guardians know, but I mean her WHOLE story. Let's get started…**

Nia's life started well enough, she supposes. It just hasn't turned out as well as one could have hoped. She was the final child and only girl born to a family with five boys. And just because she was a twin didn't count. Because her twin sister died.

Her mother's name was Star and her father died not soon after she was born, in a hunt that went wrong, as did three of her brothers. Because her father and brothers died in the season when summer crosses to fall, she was named Aestas Autumn Araenia. 'Aestas' meaning summer, 'Autumn' being obvious, and 'Araenia' was the name that her father had wanted to name her if she were a girl. So they took her last name and called her 'Nia'.

Only two brothers, herself, and her mother remained. Her mother took over running the village in her father's place, with her uncle helping out occasionally. Thus, from an early age, Nia was exposed to the workings of a strong woman's leadership, and a life of males. She wanted out. So she ran. And when she did so, she shattered the fragile bond she and her brother Aster had with each other. A bond not quite enticing trust with each other, but a bond nonetheless.

She ran.

She cried.

She collapsed.

She passed out.

She woke up later to warmth; warmth and the color, or lack of color thereof, white. With black stripes. That was odd. But she was comfortable. So she let the tigers stay. Thus, Samara, Star, Sapphire, Snow, Serpent, and Tilly were born… or named… or… whatever.

It was sometime after that, that she died. Honestly she doesn't even know how she died. She only knows that it did happen. That, and when she woke up, she and her tigers were now immortal. She was the first spirit ever created, and thus, she was first lieutenant for MiM.

She was the spirit of comfort. She was made a Guardian shortly after North and Sandy were born.

She didn't like it at all. As a Guardian, she was expected to **converse** with the others and pretend that they were her friends. She couldn't do that. So she pushed them away, started wearing black (which soon became her favorite color anyways), she acted suspicious, all in the hope that they would leave her alone.

As all of this was happening, Aster had died and become a Guardian. He became a bunny, and she was pretty much speechless the first time she saw him. How does a human (humanoid?) with wings, a fairy, have a large bunny for a brother? He regarded her with contempt, remembering everything that she had done.

The only one that she didn't try to push away as hard was Sandy. If she was ever sad, or tired, or even just frustrated, sometimes she would call to Sandy and he would show up and almost comfort her. In fact, he was more of a brother to her than either of her last two brothers were.

Then, she was accused of hurting children. This burned her severely. She looked to MiM, but he did nothing to help her. Only Sandy stood up for her. She tried to withstand it. She tried to prove them wrong.

But then the accident happened. One minute she was playing with the child, and the next minute, all was chaos: the girl was dead, and Nia was being accused of killing her. The Guardians said that they saw her kill the girl. She was filled with guilt. Not because she killed the child, but because she didn't protect the child from whatever it was that **did** kill her.

The Guardians held a trial. She begged MiM for help. To make them see that she hadn't done it. But he turned his back on her.

She was banished to the Dark Forest, where all evil belongs, apparently. They stood there and watched as she was attacked by the sprites and goblins at the edge of the forest. As they crushed her legs and ripped her wing off. They believed her dead, and three of her tigers perished in trying to protect her.

But the Guardians just stood there and **watched**. All except Sandy, who left. He couldn't bear to see it happen. They left soon after she was "dead".

But then she did the unthinkable: she survived. After lying on the ground for three weeks, starving and injured, she got up. She left the forest quickly, knowing that she couldn't stay there, and built herself a small home in a cave, in a county called Burgess, except back then, it wasn't called Burgess yet. She lived there for thousands of years before she finally met Jamie and Sophie.

She told them her story, and they believed in her innocence. They believed in her. They comforted the spirit of comfort. But what is most important to her, is that they've promised never to tell the Guardians about her. Until she wants them to.

**Hey, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please R&R! And thank you again so much to the people who reviewed my story! It made me so happy to see the reviews! And the FOLLOW! I did not expect people to even READ my story, much less FOLLOW it!**

**Thanks again,**

**TrueManevolanGirl4899**


	4. Meet Jack

**For disclaimer, please refer to chapter 2.**

**Hey! I'm back again! This has been going much better than I ever expected! Thanks again to my lovely reviewers! Here you go…**

Nia stops in the shadow of a tree that overlooks The Lake. Nia loves this lake. Though that Jack boy was not the only one to die in this lake, he was by far the one she remembers most. If she remembers correctly, he died to save his sister, Pippa. Nia was so touched, and so in awe that a brother and sister could possibly have so close a relationship, that she guarded Pippa for the rest of her (Pippa's) life. Pippa couldn't see her, but Nia knew that she suspected someone was watching her; after all, how else had she survived that fall from the cliff?

Lost in thought, Nia approaches the edge of the lake. Her tigers are not with her, as they are resting from hunting last night. Though immortal, they still get hungry. Nia has learned to control the hunger by now, though once in a while, she catches herself yearning for food.

A light breeze brushes past. Something isn't right. Nia's instantly on the alert. She whirls around, knowing that running would be pointless, as her legs never healed properly, and flying is out too; her wings aren't fully grown back yet.

Wishing she didn't have to, she lights a ball of energy in her hand, holding and letting it spin in her hand, creating a dull light that lights a few feet in front of her, though she doesn't need it. Her eyesight in the dark is perfect.

Nia slows her breathing, she feels watched. Slowly she turns around again, coming to face a boy, hovering a few inches off the ground, behind her.

Her eyes widen, and she raises her ball of energy to hurl it at the boy-

But, then, he stretches both hands out. He drops to the ground and sets the staff he carries down.

Nia is between firing, and relaxing. This boy doesn't seem like a threat, but what if there are more?

As if he's read her mind, the boy speaks. "Easy, it's just me. I won't hurt you, I promise."

She looks at him, studying him closely. The first things to catch her eye are _his_ eyes. There are bright blue, matching her own. The second thing is his hair.

"Your hair!"

The boy smiles. "What about my hair?"

"I-It's _white_!"

The boy laughs. "Well, I am a winter spirit."

"But _white_! Look, I've seen some pretty strange things, but-" Nia breaks off. With everything she's been through, she can't believe that she's standing there gawking at white hair. Of all the stupid things she's done before, this comes pretty close to being one of the stupidest: here she is, possibly in danger, actually _talking_ to another living, well, "living" in the sense that he's a spirit, and she's talking about hair!

"Look, I should go," Nia manages to stammer out, when suddenly it hits her. "Jack!"

Jack looks confused. "Yeah, actually, that's my name. Why?"

"You're the one that drowned here right?"

Jack looks uncomfortable. "Yeah…" he trails off. "Why?"

Nia catches herself and looks down, blushing. "Oh, it's… nothing. Nothing at all. Look, I'd better go." She backs away slowly from Jack. "I've got, um, friends waiting for me."

Jack looks disappointed. "Oh, okay. Wait!" he calls after her. Nia stops and looks at him. "I didn't get your name."

Nia starts. "I- uh, it's… Summer. My name is Summer."

Jack smiles and waves after her. "Alright, maybe I'll see you later. Bye, Summer!"

Nia leaves quickly after that, trying to run, but not quite doing it. That was too close.

Too late in their conversation did she remember that he was now a Guardian. Disappointing, as he wasn't bad looking…

Nia stops herself. She cannot think like that. It'll just get her killed or something. She shakes her head, trying to clear it. This isn't good. She has no doubt that the other Guardians have told him about her, about what they think she did. Obviously they didn't tell him what she looked like, as it was very hard to mistake her thigh-length wavy brown hair and blue eyes that matched his. It's a good thing she had taken her cloak off and had a purple ¾ sleeve shirt on underneath with jeggings. They've no doubt told him that she usually wears all black.

* * *

Jack puzzles over the mysterious encounter with Summer. When he first saw her, he thought for a moment that it might possibly be Nia, but then he made a list in his head of reasons why this wasn't possible:

1. She's dead.

2. The girl (Summer) was wearing purple and navy blue, not black.

3. No tigers.

4. Last of all, she talked to him. Of course, she may have been shocked into it, but from what Tooth said, Nia didn't talk to anyone.

After pondering this in his head for a while, Jack surmised that there was absolutely no way that this girl could be Nia. In any way, it's just not possible. Also, Summer didn't have wings; or, at least, none that he could see.

He shrugged, then picked up his staff again, and flew back to the North Pole.

**Hi, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really enjoyed writing it, and right now I'm thinking maybe JackXNia. What do you think? Please tell me. Also if you have any ideas about how this story should go, any requests, anything at all, please, please tell me. I love hearing from you guys so much, and thank you for reading this story!**

**Also, I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc., errors there are. I hope there's not too many, but you never know.**

**Thank you so so so so so so so so so much for reading this story! Please review! Down below! I know you see the box!**


	5. Disturbing Discoveries

**For disclaimer, please refer to chapter 2.**

**Hi! I am so happy right now, seeing that I now have TWO follows, and even more reviews! Yay and thank you!**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Thank you so much. I will try to do that. I tried to sneak a description in there somewhere of Nia so that you could kind of get a picture of what she looked like. Also, I'm wondering how you liked the connection n to Jack's sister?**

**Jess52345: OMIWORD! A favorite and a follow?! You are too kind…**

**So, I wasn't planning on doing a chapter today either, but since you people are so nice to me and I'm feeling so happy, I will type up a short little chapter for you. No guarantees that it will be 1,000 words, but I'll do my best with it for the short time I have.**

**Here is your chapter…**

Jack is confused. He looks every day, and he still doesn't see Summer again. Maybe he should ask the Guardians for help…

* * *

Nia wants to move on. She knows she should. But Burgess has been her home for the past few thousand years, even if wasn't always called Burgess. But as much as she wants to move on, her mind keeps coming up with reasons why she shouldn't: She can't fly yet, she wouldn't be close to Jamie and Sophie, and if she wasn't close she couldn't protect them, she's lived her for ages, and so on and so forth. So Nia decided to stay. Mainly because of she did move, it would have to be far away from Jamie and Sophie, as her mind so conveniently pointed out.

Speaking of Jamie and Sophie, here they come. Nia's face lights up and she actually looks happy. These children are her life. Though she sends out her energy to comfort other children, these are her favorites. Maybe it's wrong for her to have favorites. But she didn't see the Guardians delve out fair judgment to her when they thought she was guilty. Did they listen to her side of the story? How would they like it if-

Nia stops her silent rant, quelling that small spark of rebellion and anger that, if left to burn, would light a fire in her.

Sophie jumps on her back and hangs on as Nia spins her around. Jamie gives her a high-five and tries to teach her a "secret" handshake. Today was Sophie's first day of kindergarten and she tells Nia all about it as Nia settles down to hold her, basking in the rays of late afternoon sunlight. She was almost happy.

* * *

North's face is confused. "Vat did she look like?"

Jack shrugs in his normal, carefree way. "I don't know. I guess she looked alright as far as girls go, I mean her eyes were pretty cool, and her hair was okay, but-"

Tooth sighs. "Not like that, Jack. We mean, like, what color were they?"

"Oh, well, her hair was really long, like past her waist, and it was light brown, I think they call it caramel, and kinda wavy. Her eyes nearly matched mine, except for the fact that they were really sad. She was super pale, and-"

"It's gotta be Nia," Bunny growls.

"But Bunny-" Tooth tries, "We don't know for sure-"

Now Jack is confused. "But I thought you said Nia had wings?"

Tooth turns to him. "Jack, sweetie, they were ripped off when she died, or so we though she died. Did you see any tigers?"

Jack shakes his head.

"See, Bunny? It can't have been Nia, because there were no tigers."

Bunny is still not convinced, and later that night in the Warren, he decides he's going to find this girl and prove if Nia is alive once and for all.


	6. The Nightmare

**Hi again! I'm back! I'm doing my happy dance at the moment because you guys are so wonderful!**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Thank you so much! You are so amazing and I love reading your reviews on my story as much as typing the story itself!**

**darthcat: They did it to her ****_because_**** they protect children. They thought that she was the one to kill the child, and while we know that this isn't true, they think it is. **

**PeachtreeAmuto: Thanks! I really didn't expect even that much because this is my first time writing like this. I'm so glad you like it!**

**I would also like to thank my Favoriters and Followers: PeachtreeAmuto and TheRyomaEchizen.**

**Here is your chapter! Hope you like it!**

Bunny barrels through the woods towards Burgess. Though Jack didn't say where he had met the girl, Bunny still has a pretty good idea where it was. All he has to think, was where does the Icicle spend most of his time? The answer: Burgess.

What's worse is that Jamie and Sophie live in Burgess. If Nia gets anywhere close to them…

But he's getting ahead of himself. As about as willing to admit it as a rock, Tooth does have a point: It might not be Nia. Yet Bunny will not take the chance of letting her get away.

* * *

Nia looks out Sophie's window. They are sitting on Sophie's bed making necklaces together, with Jamie on the floor, reading. Something doesn't feel right at all.

Nia feels a light tap on her leg. She looks down at Sophie.

"Nia feel good? I have band aid."

Nia smiles at Sophie and her childish way of talking, full of innocence, the innocence that was taken from herself. "No, thank you, Sophie-girl. Nia feels fine. She just needs to rest because she thinks she's going crazy."

Jamie looks up from the floor. "What does 'benign' mean?"

Nia looks at him. "'Benign' means caring, gentle, unthreatening, good, and meaning no harm."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Nia."

Sophie laughs. "Is Nia 'beenigh'?"

Nia grows still and loses her smile. "You know Sophie, I'm not sure. I used to think so, but my brother didn't, and now I don't know what I am. Most people just call me 'monster'."

Sophie grows confused at this. "Nia no monster. Nia scare monster 'way. Toothpaste Monster not scared me again after you scared him 'way."

Nia laughs. "I'm glad of that, Sophie-girl." She pulls the girl close to her as thunder crashes outside. "It sounds like it might rain. I should probably get back soon, okay?"

Sophie nods solemnly. "Yes, Nia go home 'fore Thunder Monster come to eat her."

"Oh, so now there's a Thunder Monster."

Sophie's eyes grow big. "Yes, we learn 'bout him in school today. He lives in the planet of Rome or Greece, I forget which, on top of Mount Fuji."

"Is that so?" Nia is helpless, laughing.

Jamie rolls his eyes. "Sophie! It's Mount Olympus, and it's in the _country_ of Greece, not the planet. His name is Zeus. And my history book said that people thought that he was the king if the gods."

Sophie thinks for a minute. "You mean Santa?"

Jamie smacks his hand on his forehead and Nia is laughing the loudest anyone's heard in years. In fact, she's laughing so hard, that she doesn't notice the hole opening behind her, and the 6'2 giant pooka that jumps out of it, until Jamie yells, "Nia!"

Nia stops laughing and whirls around to see her brother standing behind her with boomerangs raised.

"Nia." He growls softly. "Get away from Sophie."

The tigers that had been curled up and sleeping soundly in the corner, leap forward to stand between Bunny and his sister, growling menacingly. Everybody freezes. Jamie notes that there are only two tigers standing between Bunny and Nia. The other one is creeping up unseen behind the bed, ready to carry Nia to safety, seeing as even with working legs, she would never be able to outrun the giant rabbit.

Brother and sister seem to be conducting a staring contest; green versus blue, narrowed versus wide and scared. Then suddenly Nia falls backwards, letting go of Sophie, to fall on Star. Star bolts out the open window, Samara and Sapphire following closely. Bunny stands there for less than a millisecond before leaping after them.

But they have disappeared. Bunny looks around, but cannot find them anywhere. And then a shadow flickers, and less observant eyes would have missed it, but Bunny notices it. He stiffens and turns around quickly to see three white tigers slinking slowly along the side of the house. They stop as he stares at them, and then run for the forest. As fast as he is, Bunny is hard-pressed to keep them in sight.

But then he loses sight of them. And a scream comes that he knows is Nia's. A spark lights within him. One that couldn't be found when he watched the goblins and sprites tear at her. A spark that is incredibly miniscule, yet still there. A spark of protectiveness. He bounds after her.

* * *

Jack lounges in a tree next to the lake when he hears the scream. He frowns and leaps out of the tree to investigate. He walks slowly in the direction of the scream. The sight he comes upon is not pleasant: a stray nightmare is rearing up in front of three white tigers. On one of the tigers, clings a girl, holding on for dear life. The two other tigers stand protectively in front of the tiger carrying the girl.

Jack looks closer. Though she is wearing black cloak now, instead of the purple shirt, he can still tell that it's Summer, or is it Nia? The sense of betrayal he feels lasts only for a second as she shrieks again. She is slipping from the tiger's back.

Just then, Bunny bursts into the clearing. He takes in the scene before him, seeing Jack standing there. He bounds over to Jack.

"Is there any way ta get her?"

"Well, I could try to fly in and grab her, but-" He breaks off, as Nia finally loses her grip and slides to the ground. The tiger, Star, is confused and panicked at the sudden loss of Nia's weight, light as that is. She roars, and the nightmare bounds forward, heedless of the tigers swiping and growling at it. It runs forward, frightened, stepping on Nia in the process. Then it is gone.

Bunny tries to move to her, as does Jack, but the tigers, already mad about the nightmare, snap at them. They nudge Nia, trying to get her on Star's back. She doesn't wake, limp, as the tigers prod her.

Jack creeps forward. The tigers turn, but are unsure about him. They know that he is not one of the four that hurt her. They let him pass. Jack kneels down by her. There is one long gash on her stomach that is bleeding heavily. Her touches it and she moans, her eyes flickering as she turns over away from him.

He stands up and backs away, as she slowly sits up. She wraps her arms around Star and Sapphire helps support her as she pulls herself up onto Star's back. Samara stands on the other side. Nia turns her head one last time to look at Bunny before her tiger carry her away.

Jack and Bunny stand there, too shocked to do anything about it, as she disappears between the trees.

Jack turns to Bunny. "What do we do now?"

Bunny is shaken out of his stupor. "We tell the otha' Guardians."

**Hey! This chapter was a little longer** **and it was my favorite by far to write! Though you wouldn't believe how tempted I was to leave you with a cliffhanger. But I love you guys too much to do that to you, so please R&R! Thanks!**


	7. Her Eyes

**Hey! I actually think I'm doing pretty well with updating, though I should tell you, here is my schedule, and unless otherwise specified, if I don't post on those days which I say I will, you can yell at me.**

**Monday- Tuesday: Posting Days (maybe 2x a day)**

**Wednesday: Possible Posting Day**

**Thursday: Posting Day.**

**Friday-Sunday: Don't bet on it.**

**Monday: I'm back!**

**That will most likely be how it will be, seeing as I have school all day on Fridays and my Saturdays are usually pretty busy.**

**Anyhow, here's your chapter:**

* * *

Chaos has erupted inside the North Pole, otherwise known as Santoff Claussen. Jack and Bunny have just finished telling their tale to the other Guardians. The other Guardians have mixed emotions about the whole thing:

Tooth: **You say she was laughing when you came in? And holding Sophie? Is that good or bad? What does it mean? I, we, thought she was dead!**

North: **Zis es not good. If Aestas es back, zen vat vill happen to children? Ve must find her!**

Sandy just smiles softly. **_So she isn't dead._**

* * *

Nia groans. She is being carried by Star to who-knows-where. Her stomach throbs and her back stings and itches. She knows she can't go back now. Not even to see Jamie and Sophie. She hopes that they are alright and that they will understand why she can't come to them.

Star stops. She looks. Nia can feel her powerful muscles bunching beneath her and Star tenses, sensing something. Nia struggles to slowly sit up. She looks around. Her eye catches on something. It's white, and it's coming closer. As it nears, she realizes that it's Jack, though what he's doing here, she has no idea.

Jack lands a few feet away and does the same thing as the last time she talked to him: he drops his staff and holds out his hands in a placating gesture.

"Sum- I mean, Nia, I need to talk to you. Please."

Nia looks at him. He knows who she is, yet he doesn't seem threatening. She sighs and slides off Star. She turns to her tigers. "Leave us for a moment, please."

All three turn and walk slowly behind a few trees. Jack approaches her. "How is your stomach?" he asks hesitantly.

Nia shrugs, not answering. Jack reaches out a hand. She winces. "No! No, Jack. Please don't touch me." She shudders as horrible memories course through her. Jack retracts his hand with a strange look on his face.

Nia looks up at him. "Jack, I'm sorry I lied, I just didn't, well you know, what you would think and I-," she stops. "It's pretty messed up."

"It's okay, Nia."

"What?" Nia can't have heard him right. Was he saying that it was-

"I said it's fine. Don't worry about it. We all mess up. And I, for one, don't believe that you killed a kid."

Had she died and gone to heaven? All she's ever wanted was for someone to believe her, and this boy was telling her that he believed her, that he thought she was innocent. "Am I dead?"

Jack smiles. "No, you're not dead. Not yet at least. Though I am wondering how you faked your death when the Guardians thought you were dead."

Nia grimaces. "Don't talk about that. Please. It hurts."

"Okay."

The silence grows slightly uncomfortable between them.

Jack clears his throat. "So, um, Nia, will I, uh, see you again?"

Nia looks him in the eye. "Yes," she answers, more truthful to herself and her destiny than she has been for a long time.

* * *

Jack flies toward Santoff Clausen, smiling. As weird as it was, he was really looking forward to seeing Nia again.

He flies in through a window, grinning, to be met by Tooth.

"Jack! Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere! We were sitting there discussing what to do about Nia when you just disappeared! North, Sandy, Bunny, I found him!"

As Tooth went to find the other Guardians, Jack quietly snuck away, not willing to be questioned about where he was.

Funny, he'd not known Nia for a month, and yet, he was willing to do whatever it took to protect her. He thought about it later as he sat outside trying to plan the next big snow storm and where to hit, but his thoughts kept snaking back to Nia. Her eyes and how they matched his. How bright they were, yet scared, when they looked at him.

After mulling it over for a while, Jack finally came to the conclusion that her eyes were her best feature.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Took me a little longer to write, as I've never done a romance before. Any pointers you've got would be great! Thanks for reading!**

**A/N I would like to thank Death of a Dark Angel for favoriteing my story! You guys are truly awesome!**


	8. Help Her

**Hi! I'm here and ready to write! I'm kind of trying to decide where I want to go after the last chapter, so I'll just sit down and see what my finger type.**

**To my reviewer:**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Thank you! You are so wonderful to review on every chapter I've written so far! You are truly amazing and I thank you! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, as I was pretty unsure of how it would turn out. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Now, here is your chapter:**

* * *

Nia hisses in pain as she pours water over her stomach gash, the one that now looks purple and infected; which is not good. She should never have allowed herself to get hurt like this, and the fact that Aster was there to see her weakness made it so much worse, in her mind at least.

Star has found this hot spring, and as Bringer of Summer, even in exile, she is impervious to heat unless she wants to feel it. Though it will affect her wound all the same, semi-cleansing it, though fresh water would be better, or even snow.

Samara stands over her while Star and Sapphire stand lookout a small distance away. Samara prods her, telling her to hurry up, before someone finds her.

Star and Sapphire let out warning growls. Nia stands up quickly, noticing the black sand encircling her and blocking Star and Sapphire from getting to her. Pitch Black appears in front of her.

"Good morning, Pitch. Please leave me alone."

"Oh, dear Nia. That will never happen, as you know very well. Tell me, what did your brother think about seeing you holding his precious Sophie?"

"He thinks I killed a child, Pitch. What do you think? Oh, and one of your nightmares startled my tiger today as I was fleeing for my life. It nearly killed me. And now, as a result, I have a gash on my stomach that won't heal." Nia sits back down and starts rinsing her stomach again. She feels a hand brush the top of her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Pitch sit down on a rock.

"Nia, you really should take better care of yourself. Why, one would think right now, that you _didn't_ hold nearly as much power inside as MiM himself." Pitch says the name with a bitter note to his voice.

"Yes, that may be, Pitch, but you know very well that I don't like to use my power." Nia shifts as her back starts itching again. Soon, very soon, she will have her wings again.

She sees Pitch's hand come down towards her stomach. She flinches. He touches her wound gently with his fingertips, and slowly it begins to close. She sighs in relief as her tense muscles begin to relax within her.

She barely notices when the black sand disappears and Pitch is no longer there. She stands slowly, noticing that her head no longer hurts and her back has stopped itching for the time being. She didn't get Pitch at all. What was it between them? She wouldn't call them friends, nor would she call them enemies. He showed up when he wanted, and she neither liked seeing him nor disliked it.

Yet, he was the only one to comfort her when Tilly finally let go of life. The last of the three tigers hurt in the attack to die of her wounds. Snow and Serpent had already passed two days earlier, but then again, Tilly was always the toughest of all of the tigers. Samara, Star and Sapphire were still unconscious, yet Pitch had promised her that they would live.

So here she is today, with three tigers, a brother who hates her and could care less if she was dead, two small kids for friends that she would probably never see again, and a psychotic maniac that tried to take over the world that comforted her. Her life is pretty messed up at the moment.

* * *

North, Bunny, and Tooth have been working nonstop to find Nia the past three days. They have barely slept or eaten in their desperation to find her before she hurts any more children. Jack and Sandy both refuse to help, but for different reason, and not outright, but by always being "busy" these days. In Jack's mind he knows that she is innocent and that he could never incriminate an innocent girl to a most likely death, though he wasn't sure exactly what the Guardians wanted to do with her once they caught her.

* * *

"Okay, come on Nia, you can do it! All you have to do is jump and flap, jump and flap. It's simple!" Nia tries to encourage herself. Her wings have just emerged a little while ago and are still wet and very weak, as they always are when they reemerge. And like she always did, Nia found the highest tree in the area to jump out of. It's only worked twice, though, and one of those times didn't count because the highest tree in the area at the time was only a few feet off the ground. The other six times though, she's landed on her face, knee, head, wrist, etc… You get the picture.

This tree is actually pretty tall and Nia doesn't have real high hopes for this one. Her tigers wait at the bottom of the tree to catch her if (when) she falls.

Why she even does this is beyond her. It has just kind of become a habit. Good news is, there is a strong wind, which is also the bad news, because the wind will either push her down and smash her into another tree, or it will help support her and give her some more lift. Her wings stretch out behind her, colored royal blue and silver with black edges. Hanging down, they reach to just above her knee.

Nia backs up, then leans forward and jumps. For a horrifying moment she is freefalling then, surprisingly, her wings star flapping. They catch they wind and gain more lift. Nia strains her sore shoulder muscles to keep them moving.

Then something hits her. A flash of red, bells, it's the sleigh. She spins out of control, plummeting towards the ground, trying to keep upright in the wind that forces her downwards. She flaps furiously and finally gains some height, before something grabs her and pulls her down to the sleigh.

Nia hits her head on the side of the railing and passes out.

* * *

Tooth sits up slowly. It took a lot of strength to pull Nia to the sleigh. She looks at Nia. Nia is unconscious, her hair and wings spread out on the floor of the sleigh as she lays there. North looks at her and gives a nod. The sleigh moves forward again at blurring speeds. Nia shifts. Her wigs twitch. Tooth stares at her wings, almost mesmerized.

"She grew them back." She whispers softly.

Though there is something odd about her wings: They are slightly wet and they have a grayish tint to them. Fairy wings only look like that when fairies are newly born, their wings not yet strong enough to fly. Yet, Nia is thousands of years old, and she was nearly flying from what Tooth saw a few minutes ago.

Tooth reaches out a hand to lightly touch Nia's wings. Tooth deduces that Nia must be one of those rare types of fairies that can regrow their wings after they lose them.

Nia moans, still unconscious, and Tooth turns her gaze to Nia's face. There is a long gash on her forehead from where she hit her head. Her face pale. She moves her hand, which fell on her chest when she landed.

"Tooth, hold on!" North shouts as he throws his snow globe. Nia lurches to the side as the sleigh turns, and Tooth grabs her, merely out of reflex. The sleigh arrives at Santoff Clausen. North jumps out as a hole opens next to the sleigh and Bunny jumps out.

"Ya found her?" He asks, and North nods.

Bunny looks into the sleigh to see his sister slowly waking.

* * *

Nia looks around. She is in North's sleigh. Aster is glaring at her. Nia painfully sits up slowly. She brushes her hair out of her face with her hand, trying to clear her line of vision. She sees North and Tooth standing behind Aster.

"Where are my tigers?" Nia asks quietly. No one answers. Nia's head hurts and she puts a hand up to touch her head. _Wet_. She sees blood on her hand as it drops in her lap.

Aster narrows his eyes. "Come on, get up."

Nia looks helplessly at him and she struggles to stand in the sleigh. She grabs hold of the railing and steps down out of the sleigh. Aster walks ahead of er a few steps. Nia takes a step forward…

And falls down. Her hands go in front instinctively to catch herself. She coughs. Blood drips down her forehead and lands on the ice floor in front of her. Aster turns around.

"Oh, for…" He comes back takes hold of her arm, supporting her as she stands back up and walks inside. She is dizzy as she walks down a hall way and through a door.

The room she is in has a chair, a table with two books and a candle on it, and a small bed. Aster lets go of her arm and she turns around just in time to see the door close with a click. She was a prisoner.

* * *

Jack and Sandy sat together at a window and watched as Nia climbed out of the sleight and fell. Jack started to get up so he could go and help her, but Sandy put a hand on his arm to stop him. Sandy shakes his head and points.

Jack looks out the window again to see Aster grab her arm and almost, _almost_, help her up. He leads her inside with North and Tooth following.

Jack hits his fist against the window pane.

"Sandy, how can they just watch her struggle and not do anything to help her? Her head is _bleeding_ and North and Tooth are just standing there watching. How can they think that she killed a child? She's innocent, I know it! We have to help her either get out, or prove her innocence. Sandy, are you with me?"

Sandy nods. He would help her. Because if he had doubted before, he didn't now. If she had somehow gotten Jack to believe her, then that was good enough for him. Because even more than that, he agreed with Jack about the way the others were treating her. Nia was struggling, and her brother didn't even help her that much. Just merely dragged her to what was most likely a prison cell, or at least, the closest thing North had to it at Santoff Clausen.

Yes. Sandy would definitely help her.

**Hey! This chapter is the longest I've done yet! Nearly 2,000 words! Took me all morning to write, so I'm not sure if I'll post another chapter today or not. Depends on whether my head ache is better or not. So, I hope you enjoyed reading this! Please Review! Thanks!**


	9. Never Forget

**Hey peoples! My head ache is gone so I shall be able to post this short chapter. **

**To my lovely reviewers:**

**darthcat: Your second review, I'm so happy! See, they can't just look at her memories because the only memories they have from her are the baby teeth ones, before she became a spirit. Her memories from a spirit are in a Memory Chamber, something will be explained later on. (Perhaps in this chapter, if I can fit it in) Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this story!**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Thank you! I laughed while writing that part of the story. Yeah, the situation between her and Pitch is a little confusing. They don't mind each other, and he does know that she could kill him, but she doesn't for two reasons; the first, which you mentioned, is because Nia is fascinated by him and because she feels that she almost owes him just for being one of the only things in her life that didn't change when she was accused. The second reason, is because, even though she didn't kill the child, she still feels responsible for her death. Nia feels that she should have protected her somehow. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Chapter 9:**

* * *

From what Nia can tell, she would estimate that she's been here five, maybe six days. Her small window doesn't help much, and even if it were bigger, it would still be pretty hard to tell when day turns to night out here at the North Pole.

The room is dim, the walls bare, with a high ceiling, and there is plenty of room, thanks to the sparse furnishings, to practice flight. So that is what Nia does.

At first, all she does with her flapping is rise a little, lose balance, and end up knock the candle of the table. Then she gets better; she isn't that powerful for nothing, and though she doesn't like to use that power, she uses some of it to strengthen her muscles and that makes it a little easier.

Usually she doesn't have to do this. Usually, after re-growing her wings she visits her Memory Chamber.

Only the oldest spirits had Memory Chambers, and now only five remain: Those of the four original Guardians (North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy), and her own.

A Memory Chamber is used for much more than storing memories, though that is one of it's main purposes. A Memory Chamber can be used as a haven in times of great need, though normally, one tries to stay as far away from one's Memory Chamber as possible, for if an enemy were to discover your Memory Chamber, you are as good as dead.

Memory Chambers can also be used to recuperate and give strength. Nia uses hers to help her fly right after re-growing her wings.

Memory Chambers are in a place of the "owner's" choosing. They are living beings, charged to help carry the burden of so many memories after such a long lifetime. The place where the Memory Chamber is will expand as more memories are added, though only on the inside.

Nia's Memory Chamber is in a tree. A tree that she found as child that had been hollowed out. It became her hiding place when she wanted to get away from her brothers and uncle. Only her mother knew where it was, but she never bothered Nia when she was there. Because, for all her faults, one of her mother's best qualities, one of her only good ones, was that she respected privacy.

Nia sighs. She misses her tigers. And her Memory Chamber. And Jamie and Sophie.

While she's been prisoner here, North and Tooth have taken turns bringing her food, not that she eats it. Where is Jack?

Later after she'd arrived, Tooth had offered to bandage her head, but Nia refused. She is comfortable with few people touching her; her tigers (they aren't even people, though Nia learned long ago that they used to be…), Jamie and Sophie, and Pitch (this one she isn't even that comfortable with, but he does it anyway).

Why won't they let Jack bring her food, or even Sandy? Because she knows that that's the real reason she hasn't seen them.

A pang of longing goes through her. Trying to distract herself obviously isn't working.

_I want my tigers._

* * *

Tooth looks at the monitor set up in North's office as Nia curls up on the bed, sobs wracking her body. She looks at North.

"North, I know she's guilty, but I feel so bad for her. How can we remain so cold and indifferent towards her?"

"Setting her free es not option."

"I'm not saying we set her free, but maybe we could let her out of the room, just for a little bit? She might eat something."

North thinks for a moment. "Maybe tomorrow. Not yet. Ve can't risk her getting avay. Remember vat she did."

Tooth nods sadly. She will never forget what Nia did.

* * *

**I did a shorter chapter this time because of the longer one last time. Tell me what you think and if I need to make any changes. Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	10. The Whole Story

**Hi! I'm really sorry for the wait, as I know you probably got used to seeing a new chap. nearly every day. Anyways, happy belated Halloween and I hope everyone got some candy, because it isn't Halloween without candy. **

**Thank you to my reviewers:**

**darthcat: I suppose they do have a sort of brother/sister relationship. I never thought about it before. But that's a great idea…**

**PeachtreeAmuto: Thanks! No, they can't move their Memory Chambers, because… Let's see, how can I explain this. Okay, I've got it: When a spirit chooses a Memory Chamber, it becomes their MC for life. The spirit inside of whatever they've chosen, becomes an active living thing. So, Nia's tree, though already alive, became ****_more_**** alive, if that makes sense. It took on a mind and can actually communicate with Nia personally. Nia's MC (who you'll hear more about later, and btw, her name is Atruvial) is very protective of Nia. Almost like a mother, definitely, more so than her own mother was. Does that answer your question for right now? I know it might be a little confusing, but I will be bringing Atruvial into the story a little later.**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Well, then I hope you enjoy this chapter… **

**Also, a huge thanks to the people who have favorited and are now following my story:**

**Transformers SilentWolf**

**AND**

**mamamittens**

**Here is your chapter:**

* * *

Nia sits on the bed in the room she's been locked in for about seven days has exhausted a lot of strength sustaining herself. She's never actually had to eat before; only periodically has she felt slight pangs of hunger. But, they never lasted more than a few minutes at a time, and always wore off when Nia started moving around; a good flight helped.

But here, Nis was confined to this room. Not much space to fly really. Only lift a few feet off the ground while carefully flapping.

She know she still has power, and could use it to leave at any moment, except for the fact that she's never tried to do something like that since she was banished. She doesn't know who she might possibly hurt in the process, and furthermore, she doesn't want her tigers to show up here to rescue her and find her missing. They would be so confused.

Where are they?

* * *

Jack flies through the woods of Burgess. He looks for anything white, which shouldn't be that hard, seeing as he hasn't made it snow in a while. Frustrated, he flies back up to the tops of the trees, where Sandy waits for him.

Sandy makes a question mark above his head.

Jack shakes his head. "Nothing. I don't see them at all."

Sandy hangs his head sadly.

Who would have guessed that white tigers could be so hard to find?

* * *

Tooth flips through a book, looking for anything on Nia. With his extensive library, North should have something about her in at least one of these books. She sets the book down and flies up to a higher shelf, which holds fewer books and a few manuscripts. Sitting on top, is a piece of parchment that Tooth can feel was written by a fairy. It is a poem.

_A flower that blooms by night_

_True to her nature fearing light_

_Surrounded by black and white_

_Slender yet strong and painted blue_

_And nary a friend she grew_

_Surrounded by hate, yet remaining bold_

_The bringer of warmth was told_

_She was evil _

_Her heart was cold_

_Crushed by family_

_Destined to see_

_Her fate laid out before her_

_Doomed to suffer alone_

Tooth deciphers the meanings. In Fairy, a _flower_ is a young girl. _Blooms by night_, being that you can almost only see her true nature at night, or in darkness. When a fairy is _painted blue_, it refers to the color of her wings when she is born, pink and green being the most common colors for wings, though sometimes you see yellow or purple. Blue is a very rare color to not only be born with, but keep.

In Fairy, to say that a heart is _cold_ means ice, which cracks, meaning broken.

_Her heart was broken._

Nia.

* * *

Nia's door opens. She raises her head, looking up cautiously as Tooth enters, holding a piece of parchment that was written by a fairy. Nia can feel it. But what is written on it?

Tooth glides forward to sit on the bed. Nia scoots backwards, wary.

Tooth takes a deep breath.

"Nia, what exactly happened that night?"

Suddenly, Nia knows what's on that paper. And who wrote it. And why it's here.

"Tooth, I don't think-"

"No, Nia. I want to know exactly what happened."

Nia looks into Tooth's eyes. They are clear, with no sign of deception.

"Okay, fine. That night, I was sad. One of my only human friends had just died. She couldn't see me of course, but she knew that I was there. She was old and sick and I knew that she would die soon, but that didn't make it any easier when it happened.

"Anyways, there was this girl that I came across. She was crying, and I guess I just wanted to make her happy. So I made a ball and rolled it to her feet. You should have seen her eyes light up when she saw it. She picked it up and the ball changed colors. She laughed." Nia nearly smiles at thinking of the memory. She seems to have forgotten Tooth is even there. "Her name was Amelia Rose, and she was sad because her mother had just died a few months earlier and I guess her father, in grieving for his wife, had decided that Amelia should no longer be treated like a child, and so he had taken all of her toys and dolls and forbidden her from ever playing with them again. Amelia was seven years old. All this I learned from her talking to her imaginary friend. I sat and rolled the ball to her a bit. She couldn't see me of course, but it was amazing to see her laugh all the same.

"Then, she was attacked. By what, I still don't know, even to this day. The smoke came quickly, and she inhaled it. Her eyes went blank and she collapsed. I tried to use my power to save her, but the magic that was killing her resisted all of it. It shot my power right back at me and nearly killed me, were I not able to create a shield in time. Then it stopped. I think this is where you guys showed up," Nia sighs looking at Tooth. "You saw me, and a dead child. I was trying to wake her up, to save her. Not to hurt her, as you thought. I never killed her." Nia looks down, her wings twitch. "And that's the end. You know the rest."

Tooth is silent. Trying to comprehend what Nia just told her.

"If you don't believe me, that's okay. You didn't the first time anyway." There is a note of bitterness in Nia's tone as she says this.

Tooth looks into Nia's eyes. _Hurt._

"I-I don't know. I need to think." And just like that, Tooth has left Nia in the room again, the door shut and locked.

Nia looks down at the paper still on her bed. She reads the words. In anger she grabs the paper and holds it over the candle as she lights the wick, not feeling the heat as is seeps towards her fingers.

Very soon, the paper is a pile of ash. Nia extinguishes the candle, and collapses to the floor.

* * *

**Hey! Longer chapter again, though not as long as ch8. Please review and I really hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I hope the poem wasn't too bad, as I made it up off the top of my head. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Rescued

**Yay! I got some really great reviews on this chapter! I can't believe it! You guys are so amazing, you make me blush. (Blushing profusely)**

**Therefore, I will try to make this one of my longest chapters, if not ****_the_**** longest chapter I've posted so far.**

**Also, I did post a really, really, short story that I've had forever. Like I said, it's super short, but I thought it was pretty funny. It's basically a combination/mash-up of a bunch of children's stories.**

**To my reviewers:**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Thank you so much! Yes, I did just make it up on a whim, so I did not expect it to be any good, but I'm so glad that you like it! If you like, I can post some of my other poems.**

**darthcat: Maybe I'll see if I can do that later on in the story… You've definitely given me some really great ideas for this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, as I tried to add some Pitch and Nia brother/sister relationship bonding time.**

**I think I'm done boring you to death with this totally useless Author's Note. So, without further ado:**

**Chapter 11-**

* * *

"North, you don't understand. She told me her side of what happened and I don't know what to think. What I do think, is that there is a possibility that she may be innocent."

"No, never, Tooth, not possibility at all. Ve saw her vith child. Ve saw her hurting child."

"But North! We didn't see all of it. Maybe the child actually was dead already. Maybe she-" At this Tooth is distracted by one of her Baby Teeth. She flies off to deal with whatever it is that Tooth deals with, leaving North to contemplate what she has just said.

Not that he was even ever considering rethinking Nia's guilt.

She was guilty, and that was that.

Nothing more.

Period.

Sandy enters the room, flashing images above his head.

"Sandy, vere have you been... Oh, busy, you say… Yes, take some food to her… Mhm…" North is distracted again, not realizing what he has just told Sandy to do, as he gives Sandy a key to Nia's room, a duplicate of the ones that Bunny and Tooth already have.

Sandy smiles. _Perfect._

* * *

Jack waits for Sandy to come back out. This _has_ to work. Sandy leaves the room and gives Jack a thumbs-up. Jack grins and flies off towards Nia's room, Sandy following.

Sandy unlocks it and opens her door, stepping into the dark room with Jack behind him. Three white shapes push past him and crowd around the bed she's laying on. Her wings flutter in her sleep. One of the tigers nudges her hand, probably Star.

Jack sees her eyelids flicker open, revealing those extraordinary blue eyes. She sits up and sees her tigers. She blinks in confusion.

_Why are they here?_

_How did they get in?_

And most confusing:

_How did they get past the yetis?_

But she obviously didn't care about that. All she cared about was the fact that she had just been reunited with her best friends.

"Samara, Star, Sapphire!" She looks up to see Jack and Sandy. "What are you-" she breaks off and pushes the hair from her eyes, revealing the cut on her forehead, the one that has still not healed.

Sandy's eyes widen, and he points to it. Nia looks confused, and puts a hand up to her head. She blinks in realization.

"It's fine, really."

Sandy looks doubtful about that. He shakes his head.

The tiger nudges her hand again. "Yes, Star, I'm coming… that's if you guys," she coughs, "If you guys are going to let me…" she trails off.

Jack's smile widens. "Yeah, we were looking all night for those three cats. It took us forever because apparently, they can hide really well."

Nia looks down proudly at her tigers. "They _did_ learn almost everything they know from me."

Sandy smiles again. It's good seeing her happy, or nearly happy, considering that this is Nia we're talking about.

Jack clears his throat. "I don't mean to rush you, but we should probably get going. No one knows when Bunny will decide to visit from the Warren or when North will want to come and make sure you're still here."

She nods and swings her legs over the side of the bed. She slowly pushes herself up off the bed, shaking with fatigue as she does so.

Her tigers come around to steady her and she puts her hand on Star's very large, yet steady, head. They walk slowly towards the door. Jack and Sandy stand silently, wanting to help her, but worried of what her tigers will do to them.

"What now?" Nia asks, looking at them, knowing that they hold her fate in their hands. But that's okay now, because she thinks that she might actually be able to start trusting them, just a little.

"Well, first of all, you might want to hop on your tiger and let her carry you, because we have to make this as fast as possible. North has a camera in here that hooks up to a screen in his office. We've blocked it out for a moment, but it won't be long before North notices."

Nia nods and swings her leg over Star's back, climbing on and getting comfortable.

Jack looks on in approval. "Alright, this way."

They exit Nia's what has been Nia's prison, in more ways than one, the past few days.

Jack leads the way down the hall, with the tigers and Nia following. Sandy hangs back a little, just to warn them if someone is coming from behind. Samara, Star, and Sapphire are completely silent as they trot down the hall way. They can sense that they are nearing the exit and speed up slightly.

Jack takes a few turns, and before she knows it, Nia is at the door. She looks at it.

Jack drops to the floor and looks at her. "This is as far as I can take you, okay? As soon as I let you out of this door, you're on your own. Though, I will come and visit you when all the excitement dies down. Bunny is going to be furious that you 'got away'."

Nia looks at him. "Thank you, Jack, for helping me. But, may I ask, _why_ are you helping me?"

Jack looks into her eyes, and, though they are separated by a few tigers, feels like leaning over, and kissing her. "I don't know Nia. I can't explain now, but I promise I'll come and visit you. You can ask me then. We don't have time right now."

Nia looks away and shiver as the cold air hits her when Jack opens the door. She leans down into Star's fur and tries to block it. Star bounds out into the cold with Samara and Sapphire at her heels. The door shuts behind them, and once again, Nia is alone, but this time, she's alone on enemy turf.

Her tigers run for a while in the same direction, and Nia lets them, not that she can do much about it.

Right now they have better bearings than she does. There is a reason that they're called _Siberian _Tigers, even if they are larger than the rest of their kind; they're built for the snow and cold.

Finally they slow down, but not from exhaustion. They sense someone. But they don't growl, so it must be someone who doesn't mean Nia harm, which is good, because, at the moment, Nia is fast asleep.

Pitch appears in front the tigers. They stare at him, knowing him, yet not quite willing to trust him, even though they know that he will not hurt Nia.

Pitch steps forward and puts a hand out. For a moment, nothing happens. Then the tigers start inching forward.

They near him, until he is close enough to touch her.

He brushes Nia's hair back and places a hand on her forehead. The cut refuses to close, though the redness drops a little.

Pitch frowns. He reaches out and scoops Nia up in his arms. Then he, Nia, and the tigers all disappear in a whirl of black sand, a stark contrast against the white snow coming down heavily.

* * *

E. Aster Bunnymund senses something is wrong.

He knows it.

He barrels along his tunnel and enters the North Pole, right in North's library, where North is currently enjoying a cup of hot chocolate.

North looks up, surprised, from the book on the table next to his hot chocolate. "Bunny, vat are you doing here?"

"North, where's Nia?" Bunny nearly growls this.

"Vy, Bunny! She es in room! Sandy just check on her!" North is very sure of himself.

"North, go look. Make sure tha' she's still there!" Bunny is not so sure.

"Alright! Alright! Let us go and look at screen in my office." North concedes, if only to prove to Bunny that nothing is wrong.

They enter North's office to see the screen on his table filled with static.

"Vat in the vorld…" North taps the screen, then reaches down and reconnects a wire. A picture of Nia's room pops up, without Nia.

"She's gone!"

Bunny is close to panicking.

* * *

Sandy flashes images above his head as North interprets them. North turns back to Tooth, Jack, and Bunny. "Sandy say that Aestas vas still in room ven he check."

Tooth flutters. "So that means that she can't be far, right?"

"Bu' she coulda' used her magic! Ya know how powerful she is!"

Jack shakes his head. He knows that he is a very good actor. "It's just unbelievable that she would have gotten past the yetis! And how in the world was she able to tamper with the screen from all the way in her room?"

North nods. "She es very powerful. Yet even you Bunny, I believe, knowing her longest, saw her use power only vonce in great vile. But ve know zat she did have it. She vas Lieutenant to Manny himself!"

"We hafta find her."

Tooth nods. "Yes, but how? It took us long enough the last time. I mean, we know that it will be somewhere warm right? I mean, she's the Bringer of Summer! And she wouldn't have lasted long outside up here at Santoff Clausen. It's much too cold!"

Jack looks at Sandy at nearly smacks his forehead. He _knew_ there was something wrong about the plan. He just hopes that she was able to find somewhere to either shelter and hide or was able to use all that power she has to warm herself up. He tunes back into the conversation.

"… and we know that her power doesn't work when it's too cold and she knows it, so there would be no reason for her to be outside here. Right?" Tooth finishes. "Not only that, but her wings would freeze off if she were out there too long. Any fairy's wings would. That's common knowledge among all fairies, unless you're a frost fairy, of course."

Jack feels even worse now, though part of him is angry at Nia for not telling him this. How can he help her if she won't even help herself?

* * *

Though he wouldn't ever admit it to anyone, Pitch is starting to feel a little concerned, though you would never be able to tell on the outside, about Nia.

She won't wake up; even when he tries to heal her, her body resists it. Her body has gone into overdrive trying to keep her alive. Not only does she have a gash on her forehead, she was out in the freezing cold for who knows how long, and she probably hasn't eaten, in, oh, how about, forever?

Contrary to public belief, spirits do need nourishment, though only when they are trying to heal themselves, like Nia.

If only he knew where her Memory Chamber is.

Despite being slightly older than even Nia, Pitch does not have a Memory Chamber. Part of this is because he isn't technically a proper spirit, or at least, not one that MiM made. The other part is for reasons unknown to any other person, except Pitch himself.

* * *

Nia stirs.

She opens her eyes, though her vision is slightly blurry.

She sees Pitch sitting in a chair close by and recognizes that she is in Pitch's lair. She has been here only once before, but she likes it down here. It's dark, and could very well be mistaken for _creepy_. She also likes Pitch's library. It's at least as big as North's, and she should know.

Pitch notices that her eyes are open. "Oh, joy. She has regained conciousness."

"Gee, thanks for stating the obvious, Pitch. What, exactly, am I doing here? And why am I seeing two of you?"

"Let's see, shall we list off reasons? You have a gash on your fore head; you were exposed to cold without any type protection other than what your tigers provided you; you haven't eaten in weeks, nor have you slept properly, and on top of all this, you have just finished re-sprouting wings and strengthening them. Need I continue?"

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

Nia closes her eyes. "I want my Memory Chamber."

"Yes, that would be wonderful, if I actually knew where it was…"

"Not a chance, Pitch. I'm not telling you where it is. Now help me up so that Star can take me."

"Not a chance, Nia. I'm not letting you get up yet. You're staying here until I deem you fit enough to leave."

Nia groans. "You're so overbearing. How did you even find me?"

"I just waited for Jack Frost to act on his feelings and foolishly send you out into the cold, no doubt thinking that he was helping you."

"What do you mean, 'act on his feelings'?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Well, I'll never really be older so…"

"Go to sleep."

"I hate you."

"Mhm. I'm sure."

Nia drifts back to sleep, comfortable with knowing who is there to protect her.

Like her real brother should have.

* * *

**Hi! This chapter was approximately 2,488 words and 7 pages long! I was definitely on a roll this morning, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! It was a lot of fun to type, especially the part with Nia and Pitch.**

**Some questions:**

**What do you think about Pitch and Nia's relationship?**

**What about Jack's feelings towards Nia?**

**And what about Nia's escape and how Sandy was involved?**

**What else would you like to see happen in the story?**

**You don't have to answer every question if you really, really don't want to, or have a really, really good excuse, but still… **

**I love it when you guys tell me what you think! **

**I'm not kidding. **

**I really do enjoy it.**

**Thanks,**

**TrueManevolanGirl4899**


	12. Tilly

**Hi! I got some really great reviews and I think that asking the questions at the end really helped me. So, I noticed that quite a few of you thought that I was maybe rushing Jack and Nia's relationship. I'm so glad you let me know! I'll take it slower from now on.**

**I'm super sorry that I haven't updated in like a week. I'm so ashamed of myself. We had family in from out of town, and that was pretty hectic.**

**Normally, I would respond to each and every one of you personally, but I know you guys want your chapter, and I don't have much time, so I'm just going to say THANK YOU to all you wonderful people who reviewed and I'm glad you thought the questions helped.**

**Announcement:**

**I am very happy and proud to announce the birth of a new story! I posted it just earlier this morning and was about 12 pages long on MiscroftWord! It's a fanfic on the Avengers! If you could read the first chapter, all that is up so far, and tell me what you think, I would love it!**

**Thanks!**

**Now here is the chapter you've been waiting for.**

**Chapter 12:**

* * *

By the time Pitch has let Nia leave his lair, her head has healed to a long white scar on her forehead. He gave her something to eat while she was there. Yeah, _sure._ More like _blackmailed_ her to eat something.

Nia flew over the trees with her tigers running along the ground underneath her. She is going to see Jamie and Sophie.

As flies forward, she sees Sophie's window open. Voices come from inside. Nia crouches beneath the window to listen, just in case. She hears Tooth's voice.

"…sweet tooth, if you've seen her, you need to tell us. It's very important that we find her."

Nia listens silently as Jamie replies.

"I _can't_ Tooth! We promised we would never tell! Not you, not Bunny, not anyone! She said it's too dangerous!"

"Sophie, can you-"

"No!"

"Okay, okay, sweetie, calm down a little. We won't force you to tell us if you don't want to."

Nia hears Tooth sigh. Tooth murmurs something to Aster, who Nia can sense is there. North is also there. But, where are Jack and Sandy? She sees the flash as North throws the snow globe the three Guardians return to Santoff Clausen.

Nia slowly rises to look in the window and Sophie sees her.

"Nia! Nia back!"

Jamie smiles. "Hey Nia."

Nia touches down. She embraces Jamie, who pushes away quickly, (he is still at the age where being hugged by a girl, even one who is like a surrogate big sister, is gross) then Sophie.

"How are you doing? I heard Tooth, North and Aster in here a little earlier. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, and I know how much courage it must have taken to stand up to them like that. I'm really proud of you and I thank you with everything I have in me for protecting my secret."

Jamie waves it away. "It was nothing. We promised never to tell, and so we never will. Which reminds me, how is Atruvial?"

Nia shrugs, not really worried that much about her Memory Chamber. "I don't really know, but I assume that she's fine. I really haven't been to visit her in over a week, at least. The Guardians found me and took me. They locked me in a room, and I _still_ don't know what day it is. Pitch wouldn't tell me."

Jamie's eyes widen. "You were with Pitch?"

Nia nods. "Mhm. He's really not that bad, once you get used to him."

"I know, it's just hard to forget that he tried to take over the world just over six months ago. I didn't think he'd be back for ages."

Nia smiles. "Neither did I, to be honest. We may be almost friends, but he was a little off his rocker, trying to take over the world like that. I had no choice but to cinch the comfort levels way up that night. They were off the charts! Which is the only reason the kids didn't see him afterwards; not, contrary to public belief, because he was too weak to generate enough power to frighten the kids."

Sophie hops across the room, playing bunny again. She picks up a crown off the ground and hands it to Nia, who puts it on Sophie's head.

"You are beautiful Sophie-girl, as always. Now I have to go alright? I'll be back, I promise!" Nia calls to them as she flies out the window, dropping to the ground where her tigers wait for her. After waiting for Nia to get on Star's back, the three tigers take off running towards the forest; towards Atruvial.

After running for a while, they stop. Nia lifts off Star's back and drifts towards the tree that looks like it grew up twisted. She ducks underneath a branch and puts her feet on the ground, stepping slowly towards a branch that arches into a door shape over the trunk of the tree.

Nia lays her hand on the branch, and it glows quickly before a dark mass takes the shape of a door, filling in the outline of the branch and trunk. Nia steps through the door way, her tigers following, not hesitating at all.

Atruvial's spirit welcomes her with joy and relief.

Inside Atruvial is exactly like you imagine the inside of a magical to be; the wood looking like it is made up of separate strands, some strands glowing, some not. Swirls of magic reside throughout, reaching out to Nia as she passes. The light is dim, yet colorful, like a dark room with multiple nightlights. It is very large, with doorways leading to different of the tree.

The most amazing thing, though, is the memories. They float through the air and line the walls, shown as different scenes, some of them moving, others are still. Some of them are happy, and show Nia as a young girl, playing inside this very tree. Others are very sad, showing the part of Nia's life where she is cast out from the Guardians, into the Dark Forest. How she was hounded by the sprites and goblins for days, running and hiding, before they attacked her.

Nia ducks through a doorway outlined with swirls and shapes and designs. You can tell by looking at it and feeling the magic emanating from opening, that this room is very special.

This room holds the graves of Serpent, Snow and Tilly; her three beloved tigers who live no more. Samara whines, in that way that animals do, when you know that it is not just humans who experience the pain of losing a loved one.

Nia slumps to the ground on top of Tilly's grave.

"Tilly! Why did you die? You know, sometimes I hate them for taking you. Do they have any idea how long you suffered, trying to hold onto life, for me, before letting go to darkness which consumed you? Does Aster have any idea of who you really are? Does he even begin to suspect that you, Tilly, were the girl from our village, who vowed to marry him? He loved you! You would have been my sister! I mourn for you. Why did they take your life? Why does MiM let me suffer so, though I am innocent?"

Nia sobs out these words, letting her heart break all over again, as she thinks of Tilly's eyes the last time they met her own, knowing that her spirit, though in a tiger, was as free as it ever was. Knowing that she was dying. After those six long days of pain as Tilly struggled, fighting death, all in hopes of living just one more day, to protect Nia. Because, though it was true, she and Aster had loved each other once, that didn't matter anymore, because MiM took her and gave her a new purpose: to protect the small girl who soon would have been her sister and to watch her and help her as she grew, and shortly after, died and became a spirit.

She, Serpent, and Snow had died, leaving that job to Samara, Snow, and Sapphire, who would protect her just as fiercely as Tilly did. Always.

* * *

**This chapter was going to just be a short little quick one, but I got typing, and this has turned out to be, like, my new favorite chapter so far.**

**Now, questions:**

**What do you think about Tilly's relationship with Aster?**

**How do you feel about Jamie and Sophie standing by their promise to never betray Nia or tell anyone her secret to anyone?**

**Did you pick up on what the secret was?**

**(Hint: It has to do with a certain tree that holds being very close to their home in Burgess)**

**How do you think the Guardians will feel, when we check in with them next, about Jamie and Sophie keeping Nia's secret from them?**

**That's all for right now! **

**I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I loved typing it!**

**Don't forget, please check out my Avengers story! The easy way to do it is to just go to my profile and click on it there.**

**Thanks so much for reading and I will be anticipating your feedback!**

**Thanks!**

**TrueManevolanGirl4899**


	13. Memories

Nia raises her head, wondering what on earth that noise could be. Samara growls from her post by the door.

Nia raises her hand to silence Samara and to call Star and Sapphire to her.

She listens closely.

There it is again.

She slowly climbs to her feet and reaches inside herself for the energy to be able to fight it if it is dangerous to her.

Jamie enters the room and Nia lets go of the power that has built up inside of her. Her wings flutter and she walks over to Jamie.

"What is it Jamie? Do you need help? Is something wrong?"

Jamie looks scared. "I was coming to visit you, like I do sometimes, and then when I was about half way here, I realized that I was being followed and I felt scared and didn't know where else to come-"

Nia places her hands on Jamie's shoulders. "It's okay, calm down."

"But Nia, I promised to keep you secret, you know, the one about your MC being so close to where I live and never let anyone find it by following me or otherwise and-"

"Jamie! Take a deep breath. I would rather have you safe and my Memory Chamber discovered than to have this place safe and you in danger. Now, did you see who it was that followed you here?"

Jamie shakes his head, looking depressed.

Nia sighs, then looks up and nods to her tigers. They exit the room quickly, leaving to go scout out the danger.

"Jamie, you just stay here where it's safe until we figure out what-"

Nia stops as Jamie's eyes widen and focus on something behind her. She whirls around to face the door, but instead is met with a much less pleasant sight.

North, Tooth, and Bunny stand behind her, just inside the door.

Bunny speaks first. "Jamie, get ova' here. Now. She's dangerous."

Jamie shakes his head and plants his feet in the ground next to Nia and folds his arms across his chest, looking almost indignant.

Nia doesn't trust her voice, but she tries anyway. "Samara, Star, Sapphire!" She calls out weakly.

"Don' botha'. They're tied up at th' momen'."

Nia's wings extend behind her.

Aster steps forward, but to Nia's surprise, Tooth's hand reaches out to stop him. Nia feels Jamie his hand into her own.

"Wait!" Tooth cries to all of them. "Stop, and listen to me Aster. I told you that we should find her so you could hear her story, not chase her and frighten her even more than you already have!"

North shakes his head. "Zat vas not part of agreement, Tooth. I thought zat ve vere going to catch Nia. Not talk to her, as if she es friend."

"But I am not your friend." A quiet voice says.

The Guardians turn to her. Aster pushes Tooth's hand of his arm and steps forward.

"Exactly."

Nia pulls Jamie closer. "Take a look around, Aster. What is this place?"

It is Tooth who answers. "This is a tree."

"Tooth, I'm surprised at you. You're supposed to be the best with memories, and yet you can't identify this place as my Memory Chamber? Or, MC to Jamie I suppose." She adds in for Jamie's sake.

The Guardians all stop. They stare at her.

Tooth stammers out, "Your Memory Chamber?"

"Not just my Memory Chamber. You may remember that I used to have three other tigers, besides Samara, Star, and Sapphire."

Tooth nods.

"These are their graves. The place where you stand was never meant to be touched by your feet, or to be besmirched by the feet of anyone else who hurt me. You watched as Snow and Serpent were killed! You watched as Tilly, my darling Tilly, was wounded so that she lived through six days, dealing with injuries that she could not heal from, and then died as I knelt beside her! You killed her! You killed them! Why? You are supposed to protect children! Look at me! Do I look like an adult to you?" Nia stops herself from saying more, her eyes filled with tears. Jamie wraps his arms around her. She lays her cheek on the top of his head, a tear rolling down her cheek.

The Guardians are at a loss for words, surprised at the outburst by this timid girl who usually says few words.

Just then, they all hear a laugh.

A child's laugh.

Sophie's laugh.

She runs into the room, and then stops when she sees all the people gathered there. She frowns at the Guardians.

"What you doing to Nia now? Stop hurting her!"

Sophie runs forward to Nia, ignoring the Guardians as they stare at her, and belatedly tell her to stop.

She hugs Nia's legs. "Go away, Bunny! You scare Nia-girl!"

Aster's eyes widen. "But Sophie, I'm your friend."

Sophie looks away. "You not my friend anymore because of what you did to Nia."

Aster looks like he's been slapped.

Nia reaches down and scoops Sophie up into her arms, holding her close, her eyes pleading with the Guardians.

"Please leave me alone. I-" But she stops short as a wind blows gently. A moving image floats into the room that they are in. Nia sucks in her breath to shout, "No, Atruvial! Stop-" But it is too late.

The Guardians have seen it.

"Wha' is tha'?" Aster questions, crushing down the pain of being pushed away by Sophie.

Nia sets Sophie down and tries to reach for the memory. North reaches out his hand to grasp her wrist.

"No, Nia. Vat is zat memory from?"

Nia freezes, her fears of people touching her bringing her mind to a standstill. After a moment, she pulls away from his grasp and answers quietly, "That's the night that Serpent and Snow died. The night I was cast out by you."

The picture widens. It shows a girl, Nia, lying on the ground. There is a flash of bright light as the memory engulfs them.

_**Flashback-**_

_I am in pain. I feel like I am dying. My back hurts. My wings are gone. Ripped off by the ones who attacked me. I no longer feel the presences of Snow and Serpent; their minds are blank as I try to get a feel for where my darlings are. I struggle to lift my head more than a few inches off the ground, endeavoring to get a better look around._

_Finally, I succeed in sitting up in a crouched position, nearly falling back down again in pain._

Nia watches, now seemingly unaware of the other Guardians at her side, as her past-self, strains to stand; to get to Snow and Serpent as they lay, already dead.

_I turn my head. In a pool of blood they lay; it stains their white fur, seeping into it, like water seeping into a sponge. They do not breathe. I cry out desperately, wishing for some other way; a way for them to live. Those retched Guardians have already left, no doubt thinking that I am dead._

_I fall to my knees, too weak to investigate the rasping breaths I hear behind me. Something nudges me. I turn to look into the deep green eyes of Tilly as blood drips from her mouth and head. Death is not far, I think, yet Tilly was always the strongest._

_Behind her I see Samara struggling to her feet, then Star touching Sapphire with her nose. Sapphire's chest and stomach area move; she is breathing!_

Tooth feels her wings slowly stop moving as she drops to the ground. She looks at Past-Nia as she places her hands on one of the tigers, Tooth doesn't know who. She looks to Present-Nia. There are tears in her eyes as she looks on helplessly. Tooth, better than anyone, knows that you **never** interfere with a memory flashback, not that you could.

_Samara staggers over to me and Tilly, with Star and Sapphire slowly following. Tilly refuses to leave my side, as Samara urges me to climb on her, so she can carry me to Atruvial. My hand does not leave her head._

North hides the shock well on the outside, but inside, he is shocked. He watches as Past-Nia climbs onto the tiger's back, her hand not leaving the one who is wounded, that tiger clearly the leader of the tigers, weak as it is.

_I cling to Samara's back as she carries me towards Atruvial._

The scene blurs and then changes. Now the Guardians see a tiger lying on a mound in this very room, Nia kneeling by her. A knothole lets in moonlight.

_I watch as the moonlight creeps towards my foot. I edge away._

_"__Stop! You've hurt me enough! Why do you continue to hurt me so! Go away!" I shout to it, knowing that he can hear me. _

_My power, though definitely weakened, still equals nearly as much as MiM's. I let out a small stream to cover the knothole where the light is entering._

Jamie and Sophie watch with stoic faces. They both already know the story of Tilly's death.

_I turn back to Tilly. She has worsened in the past two hours than in all the past five days combined. We now just wait for her death. I can do nothing. She has rejected my healing powers, and I do not have the heart to force her to accept them._

_Then a light flashes across Tilly's chest. Her chest stops moving. I scream and try to scramble up, but stop short. I look into her eyes one last time, seeing their green depths filled with sadness, but also the joy of freedom. Yet my broken legs have not healed yet, they probably never will, and I slump back down, sobbing against the soft, grassy mound._

_Atruvial reaches spirals of her magic out to Tilly, and the ground slowly opens up beneath her, swallowing her to her grave._

_My three remaining tigers appear and though they are mourning, they knew that this was coming, and now they must protect me. They nudge me to my feet and I collapse onto Star's back as they carry me away. I look back in time to see Black Moonflowers growing to encircle Tilly's grave, accompanied by the Blue Lilies of Serpent's grave and the Blue Tulips of Snow's. She is gone._

_**End Flashback-**_

Aster stands still as the picture dissolves to reveal the scene that they just saw: a crown of Blue Tulips, a crown of Blue Lilies, and a crown of Black Moonflowers in a grassy clearing, three mounds residing underneath their separate crowns of flowers.

He turns to Nia, to see her on her knees, head in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

He turns away and runs, abandoning his sister in her pain, yet not knowing what else to do.

He slams into Jack and Sandy.

* * *

**Hey people! This is nearly the end! I'm not sure if I'll do a sequel or not. Convince me and we'll see about it. :)**

**Thanks for reading and I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry for the long wait, but internet's been down the past week or so.**

**Thanks again!**

**TrueManevolanGirl4899**


	14. Innocent

**Hello again! You guys are so awesome! Sorry for the wait, but I was making some changes to my story that will hopefully help it along!**

**Review Replies: **

**darthcat: I put that in there just for you, since you seemed so keen on Bunny feeling some type of pain for hurting Nia. ****J**

**Guest: Considering…**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: I'm glad you liked it! I hope I've portrayed all the characters right! I didn't want it to be too OOC.**

**Chapter 14:**

* * *

Nia takes a breath. She lifts her head and holds back the tears that are pushing against the weak, but sufficient, for now, barrier that she has constructed in her heart, unwilling to let them see her like this any more than they already have.

She unfolds her wings and flaps them, rising up until she can set her feet firmly on the ground, though still feeling like a piece of driftwood in turbulent waters. She turns to the Guardians, determination etched onto her face and simmering within her veins despite all that she has just relived and experienced.

"Where are my tigers? I am willing to kill you here and now if you do not release them this instant." Her voice wavers slightly, yet remains strong for the most part.

Jack and Sandy burst into the room with Samara, Star, and Sapphire behind them. She puts her hand out to embrace them and then to lean on Star for moral and physical support, the pain in her lags worsening intensely.

"Nia…" Jack pants heavily, struggling to speak, "Sorry… tried to get… here… faster…"

"It's okay." Nia brushes the top of Sophie's head with her hand.

"But-"

"No, really. Thank you for trying, though."

Sandy nods at her. Then he points at the other Guardians, looking at her questioningly.

"What… Oh, no, they didn't hurt me. In fact, I think that they're pretty confused themselves. Do know where Aster went? He ran off… Ah, yes, thank you anyway," she smiles hesitantly as Sandy 'tells' her that Aster stormed past him and Jack, most likely to the Warren.

Tooth has regained, apparently, the strength in her wings and she inches towards Nia, like a small child trying to inch towards a wild rabbit that they don't want to scare away.

"Nia, I'm so sorry. If we'd known- if you'd explained…" she stutters over the syllables, trying unsuccessfully to put words to what she's feeling.

Nia cannot hold back the words and says, rather harshly, "You mean if you'd let me explain, or listened when I tried."

Tooth flinches visibly and Nia feels a slight pang, but she is unable to regret her unforgiving, yet true, statement.

North looks at her with wide eyes, not quite comprehending the memory he has just witnessed.

"Your tiger died?" He asks simply.

"No, my _best friend_ died. That's what you guys don't seem to get, is the fact that, while I'm hurt that you condemned me without listening, the rage circulating inside me is directed at the fact that I blame you for Tilly's death, even though I tell myself not to, and that I should blame myself because it's just the way I am, my mind keeps coming back to the way you stood there and watched as I 'died' and as my best friends 'died', three of which, who actually _did_ die."

North looks at her with sudden understanding. "You do not like us, zen?"

Nia close my eyes for a moment to try and crush down the resounding urge to scoff at this man's child-like simplicity. Of _course_ she does not like them! But, to keep things simple, she merely nods her head as an affirmative to his question.

"I am sorry."

_Nia's POV**_

My eyes fly open. That was certainly not what I was expecting to hear. Denial, maybe, and possibly disdain, but never sorrow or guilt. Not from them; not from _his_ followers.

I look into the Russian's eyes and tries, in vain, to find something other than sincerity in his eyes.

"Vill you come back vith us?"

Is he insane? I just admitted my passionate dislike for these people and he wants me to come back with them? So, what, they can lock me up again? Absolutely not.

"No, North. First of all, Aster hates me; second of all, I hate you guys." In my mind I silently add, _Yeah, and Pitch would kill me if I did._

Yet I still turn to look at Jack. He smiles at me and I can't stop the slight darkening of my cheeks; stupid pale skin.

Tooth tries to smile. "Okay then. If you're sure, then I guess we'll just be on our way."

As the Guardians desert the room one by one, I feel a tightening in my chest. I almost felt, _sad_. Then I mentally shake myself; not possible. Why would I be sad that they are leaving?

I feel a light tap on my arm. I look down to Sophie as she beckons me down lower. I crouch down while she whispers in my ear. The innocence of children. I smile and nod my head 'yes' in answer to her question.

Here I am, in the midst of proving my innocence, trying to express my feelings, and failing horribly.

Sophie asked if she could braid my hair.

* * *

**Sorry again, for the wait! As I said before, I was making some changes to the chapter!**

**So, some questions for last chapter and this chapter:**

**Q1: What did you think of the flash-backs? Did you like them, or should I just forget ever trying to write flash-backs again because I'm so incredibly awful? ****J**

**Q2: Referring to the flash-backs, did you like seeing how the different Guardians were reacting while it was happening? What did you think of their reactions? What about the way Jamie and Sophie reacted, seeing as they already knew 'the story of Tilly's death'?**

**Q3: Did you like Nia's POV? Seeing inside her mind?**

**Q4: Nia, in this chapter, is starting to become a little bolder and she's trying to express her feelings more. Any suggestions on how I could help this along?**

**Q5: How would you like her to meet up with the Guardians next?**

**Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!**


	15. Very Important Message

**I am super excited for this chapter, even though it's kind of just an in-betweener and nothing will really happen! So, basically, about a month has passed, since our last chapter. In Nia's time line, the last chapter ended in late November. The month was relatively warm in Burgess and it hasn't snowed for a while.**

**Thank you FunnelcakeIceblue! I always love reading your reviews so much! I'm glad you liked her little speech!**

**Also, thank you to a special friend who is helping me out quite a bit with my writing. The last chapter was almost done so I edited it a bit, but this chapter is a clean slate! Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!**

**Chapter 15:**

* * *

_Thank. You. Jack. _Nia thinks to herself as she lays in the shade of a tree just past the Lake. Mid-December and it's nearly 65 degrees! Not to mention how hard it is to soak up warmth from the ground when there's snow on it, which, thankfully, there isn't any at the moment.

She moves her fingers slowly, pushing them into the dirt. With the feeling of cold, dead, ground, comes a burning sensation that spreads through her body as she shifts, pulling her fingers out of the soil and turning on her side. A craving wells up in her mind and through her arms and legs, even her wings prickle with the desire to do it. A prickle that is neither pleasant, nor unpleasant.

Ever since the Guardians left Atruvial about a month ago, Nia has been feeling better than she has in years. Her wings are now fully regrown in both appearance and in strength. With this newfound strength in herself has come, not only confidence, but the yearn to do magic. _Real_ magic, not the type where she makes a flower grow or a seed germinate; Nia yearns to do powerful magic- the type of powerful magic that she used to able to do without even thinking about it, the type of magic used to create portals and time shifts and protective shields and huge balls of energy, and the type of magic that could even be used to bring a mortal or an immortal back to life after dying.

Nia closes her eyes and concentrates hard. She can feel it swirling within her, begging to be active once again; it wants to be utilized and exploited. She puffs up her cheeks and slowly blows out. She hears a creaking and looks up at the tree in front of her. Where her breath landed, moss grew. It spreads even now, climbing up higher and hugging the tree limbs as it grows, thick and lush as can be, even though it's December.

She rolls her eyes at it and slowly pushes herself up off the ground, arching her back and arms upwards in a careful stretch. Her wings flare out behind her and she flaps them. Now to go and find her tigers; they've got to be around here somewhere.

* * *

_**Somewhere above Burgess**_

Jack flies quickly scanning the ground beneath him. The message he carries is of great importance, or at least, to him it is.

His perceptive eyes pick up a flash, or, rather, the opposite of a flash, on the ground. The patch of sunlight between the trees sits there, looking innocent. He knows he saw something, but where could it have gone?

He decides to call her. "Nia! Nia, I just saw you and I know that you're around here somewhere! Nia, I have a mess-" He cut by the feeling of something hitting his shoulder. He turns around to see…

Nothing.

Another something hits the back of his head and he hears her voice.

"Jack, I really would appreciate it if you didn't go shouting my name out to the whole world. I'm pretty sure that up until 30 seconds ago, the world still thought I was dead and I would like to keep it that way, thank you very much."

He smirks. "Okay, fine, _Summer_. I've got a message for you."

She seems to materialize in front of him as she steps forward, careful to stay out of the sunlight. Her brow wrinkles slightly in confusion; _no one_ sends _her_, Aestas Autumn Araenia messages. "A message? For me? Are you completely sure that the sender said that it was for _Nia_?"

"Actually, I'm _pretty_ sure that's what he said, seeing as it's _North_ who sent it, of course."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that I can see how trying to understand him would be at least a little confusing for the recipient. What does he want?"

"Well, you see, every year North throws this huge Christmas party for all the spirits and stuff and he asked me to ask you to come to it."

Nia's stare is making him uncomfortable.

"So, um, will you come?"

"Hm? Oh, that. Well, you see, you kind of lost me after the word '_party_', and then again after you said '_all the spirits and stuff_', and again after-"

"Okay! I get the picture. You don't want to come."

Silence.

"Are you sure you don't want to come? Now? While you still have the chance to do it of your own free will?" Jack looks nervous.

"What do you mean, '_of my own free will'_?" Nia says in a dangerous tone, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Before I begin, let me state that I had _no part_ in this-"

"Jack…"

"- they're the ones who want you there! I mean, it's not my fault-"

"Jack, what in the world are you talking about-"

"- that they feel guilty! They said you _have_ to come."

"Jack, I swear-"

"Because apparently this will help their consciences feel better by doing this-"

"Jack, if you don't stop talking I will open up a portal and cast you into an abyss until you shut your mouth."

More awkward silence.

"You can do that?"

Nia shrugs. "I haven't done it in a while, like, thousands of years, but yes, I believe I can still do that."

Jack smiles. "Cool. See you tomorrow night?"

Nia sighs, "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Awesome. See you later!" He jumps up into the wind for a moment before hanging upside and looking back at her. "Oh, and, by the way, your wings look amazing." Then he leaves.

"Gee, Frosty, sure, why don't you go and make it awkward for everybody like that?"

Nia hears a rustle in the bracken behind her. She turns and could swear that Samara has a smug look on her face.

"Yeah, sure, Sam, go ahead and gloat. Where were you anyway?"

Samara turns her head to brush a leaf of her shoulder.

"What have I gotten myself into, girl?"

* * *

**So, nothing really ****_happened_**** in this chapter but it was super fun to write! The beginning part where Nia is laying on the ground was one of my favorite parts in the entire story! I actually kept rereading that part because I loved it so much!**

**Questions:**

**Q1: So, what did ****_you_**** think about the first part? Well-typed or not?**

**Q2: How do you like the way Nia's power seems to be stirring? Do you think she'll use it and let the bottled energy out, or do you think she'll try to contain it and something major will end up happening? (Hm, I actually kind of like that possibility…)**

**Q3: So… Jack and Nia. I'm trying to take it a bit slower. Your thoughts?**

**Q4: What will happen at the party? Do you think Nis will even show up? And what the heck will she even wear? (that last one is perhaps the biggest question of all:) )**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I truly enjoyed typing it, even though nothing really happened.**

**Thanks so much!**

**TMG4899**


	16. Playing Dress-up

**Hey! I got REALLY AWESOME feedback on my last chapter! **

**Reviews:**

**dartcat: I'll see what I can do…**

**PeachtreeAmuto: Thank you for reviewing (again)! I'm so happy that you think I've improved! Some ideas are forming!**

**FunnelcakeIceblue: Well, her wings are big, but rather than fiery, they are a rich, deep, royal blue with black streaks and silver around the edges. They ****_can_**** fold flat against Nia's back if she needs them to though. And, oh my word! I think you've given me a great idea for her outfit! Or, at least, how she gets it…**

**Thank you again so much for reviewing!**

**Now…**

**Chapter 16 (already?!):**

* * *

Nia runs her hands through her long hair, then twists, ringing the water out of it. She flips it back and takes hold of her comb, tugging at the snarls created by the water dripping down her hair. She shakes her head, flinging water droplets and ponders the party tonight. Should she even show up?

She knows that if she does come there will be lots of people, and lots of people means lot of eyes, and lots of eyes means lots of questioning gazes and hostile glares. Of course, then again, Jack said something about coming while she could '_of your own free will'._ Whatever that meant, it couldn't be good.

But what should she wear? It's not like she has tons of outfits to choose from. Besides, almost everything she owns is old and worn. The nicest article of clothing she has is her black, velvet cloak lined with white, spotted minx fur on the inside and around the edges. It was a gift from a young girl she befriended about 500 years ago. Of course, she couldn't see Nia, but, as always, knew that she was there, all the same. Just like with Amelia Rose and Jack's sister.

Nia sighs and creates a small bubble of heat to dry her hair. It warms her thoroughly as it moves over her head and down her hair, dissipating when her hair is dry. Nia sighs and stands up, shaking her head slowly, her hair falling into place, then she messily braids it.

There was one dress she owned though, that might suffice for such an occasion, with a few touch-ups… No. Nia scolds herself for even thinking of it. She can't wear _that_ one…

Can she?

She motions with her hand and Star saunters over so Nia can lean against her as they walk together towards Nia's 'closet', if you can even call it that. It's more like a hole in the wall that has some hooks, shelves, and a rack, and it's all grown out of wood. The particular dress that Nia is thinking of is, in her mind, cursed. It's the dress that Amelia was wearing when she died. For some odd reason, Nia's tigers decided to salvage it. It lies now where she left it, folded in paper, tucked away under a shelf.

Nia crouches down painfully and grasps the edge of the paper, pulling it towards her. Unfolding the paper, she lifts the dress, clutching it in both hands. Amelia certainly had been tall for an eight year old, and the dress, complete with a small train, falls past Nia's ankles as she holds it up to herself, eye-balling it for size. With a few alterations, it might actually be possible…

Nia frowns and holds out the dress again, concentrating hard.

With loud creaking, roots spring up and grow under the dress, conforming to its small size. Nia lets go of the dress, letting the dress rest comfortably against the wooden frame she's created for it; great, now for step two.

Nia takes a deep breath and reaches far down inside herself, still leaning on Star for strength as she makes a rising motion with her hand. A burst of small black sparkles shimmers for a moment, outlining the dress, before disintegrating.

Nia blow out as frustration wells up within her; come _on. Please_ work.

She tries again, this time making the movement with her hand more deliberate. The black sparkles return, this time stronger, and not dissolving. They begin to move as Nia smiles and twirls her finger in a circular motion, the sparkles seemingly following her hand motion. Certain parts seem to absorb into the dress itself as other parts adapt to the shape of dress, pushing the dress into a different shape. Individual pieces of the dress seem to fall away while other, new, parts are added. With a wave of Nia's hand, the sparkles vanish.

What's left is completely unrecognizable as the dress it used to be. Nia's smile brightens even more; she will enjoy showing off _this_ masterpiece, even if it is at a party where she will be completely uncomfortable.

Now, how to get to Santoff Claussen, seeing as she cannot _walk_, and flying, for her, in that cold weather is impossible; maybe she could-

Her thoughts seem to dry up in her head as she sees a flash from outside. She cautiously makes her way towards the door and opens it. Jack stands there with a snow globe in his hands, hand raised, about to knock on the door that just opened.

"Um, can I help you?"

"No, but I can help you. See, I didn't know if you had a plan about getting up to the North Pole, and then I remembered about you being the Bringer of Summer and all and I realized that you'd either melt the North Pole or you'd freeze to death. That's why I'm here with North's snow globe. I figured you could use that to get there."

"Thanks, actually, that would be really helpful."

"Anytime. You ready to go now?"

Nia looks back into Atruvial.

"Yeah, just one second, I need to finish up getting dressed."

"Oh, weeelllll… I guess I'll just wait here then."

"I'll be right back." Nia, leaning on Star, walks back to her chamber, where the dress waits.

Nia closes her eyes and focusses on the dress, imagining it on her body. With a dull flicker, the dress disappears from in front of her and Nia feels the smooth velvety cloth against her skin.

She opens her eyes to the clothes that she was wearing have been replaced by the dress. She lifts her arms and cannot resist a small spin, something that is difficult with crooked legs.

The dress has been transformed from an old-fashioned girl's dress to a true masterpiece.

The dress is a deep, royal blue, to match her wings. It has black and silver swirls and willowy flowerish patterns up one side and is made out of velvety material. One arm has a ¾ sleeve, while the other one remains bare. The dress has a low back, to accommodate for Nia's wings, and looks almost tunic/Greek-style like in the way the fabric is bunched around the edge. Nia's black ballet flats have a hint of silver sparkle to them, even though the dress nearly covers them anyway.

Using Star as support she reaches into her already open closet to with draw her black velvet cloak with the white-spotted minx fur. She pulls it around herself and then clasps it at her neck, before rejoining Jack at the door, the cloak hiding her dress.

Jack looks at her and nods, as if to assure himself that she's ready to go.

"Alright. Just so you know, you'll be there kind of early. North thought it better that way, so that you would be able to get comfortable before the other guests arrive."

He hefts the snow globe in his hand and hurls it outward. A portal opens. Jack grabs Nia's wrist and pulls her forward into the portal.

Nia is blinded by the flash for a moment, and everything spins. Then it stops. The lights dull and she feels Jack push her upright as she nearly tips over. She turns to see Star leap through the portal as it begins to close.

Speechless and out of breath, Nia holds her hand out to Star, who rubs her head under Nia's hand.

Nia surveys the room that she's landed in. It's the globe room. She remembers this room from when she was a Guardian. Tooth flutters nervously a distance away and gives Nia a bright smile while Sandy nods cordially at her and Aster continues glaring. North is nowhere to be seen.

Nia shakes her head as many strands of hair escape the loose braid that she's out it in.

Tooth stretches out a hand hesitantly, and then retracts it. "May I… Would you like me to do your hair? It's so beautifully long and-" she breaks off.

Nia looks back to Tooth and gives her a warm look, despite the awkwardness. "Yes, please. I can never seem to do anything with it."

Tooth smiles even wider than before and clasps her hands together in girly excitement. "Come on! This way!" She flies off and Nia tries to keep up, Star trotting next to her.

She arrives at Tooth's room and Tooth holds open the door for her. Tooth flies around the room excitedly.

"This is going to be so _fun!_ Another girl! Here, let me take your, um, cloak."

Nia unfastens her cloak and lets it slide down her shoulders. She holds it out to Tooth, and Tooth grasps it absentmindedly. She is far too busy gazing at Nia's dress to pay apt attention as she lays Nia's cloak on the bed.

"Nia, your dress, it's so beautiful! Where did you get it? I compliments your wings so well! Wait! I have something perfect to go with that!" Tooth flies over to the dresser and opens a small box. From it she lifts a necklace. She flies back and places it around Nia's neck, securing the clasp. She then pulls Nia over to a chair in front of a vanity and sits her down in it.

For the first time in a few thousand years, Nia looks into a mirror. She wide blue eyes look frightened and uncertain. Her messy braid is wrought with fly-away hairs and her pale face looks thin and gaunt.

Tooth reaches behind Nia and pulls off the band that fastens the braid together. She then grabs a brush and, working her way up, manages to brush it smooth. She then takes a small section in the front and braids it, pulling it back and pinning it behind Nia's head. She does the same thing on the other side.

Pulling the rest of Nia's hair back, she braids it tightly, and then wraps it into a bun, leaving a small, short strand hanging down next to Nia's face, framing it slightly. Tooth pins the bun into place and then takes a small crystal butterfly clip and puts it on the side.

Nia watches as she does this, and then as Tooth applies a small bit of makeup. The necklace she put on Nia is short and delicate, with small diamonds sparkling from the tiny, silver flowers on it.

Tooth instructs Nia to close her eyes and Nia does so, nervous when she feels eye shadow being applied to her upper eyelids. Tooth, while doing all of this, has been chattering away merrily about who-know-what, because honestly, Nia hasn't been listening.

Finally, "There, done! Open!"

Nia opens her eyes to see someone… new, staring back at her.

She has some eyeliner on, but not much; just enough to accentuate her blue eyes, which now seem to pop out from under the light blue, sparkly, eye shadow, which Tooth has applied just as skillfully to her eye lids.

A very light pinkish tint now graces Nia's pale face, and instead of looking gaunt, Nia's face now looks gracefully slender.

Tooth covers her mouth with her hands, her eyes shining with happiness.

"Nia, you look absolutely marvelous!"

_Nia's POV**_

I smile softly at Tooth, and to my surprise, she darts over and wraps her arms around me, hugging me.

At first I am stiff with shock, for I have never been hugged by anyone other than three people; Jamie, Sophie, and Tilly, when she was human.

But slowly I relax and wrap my arms hesitantly around her. This, of course, only encourages her to squeeze me harder, and she only lets me go once I begin wheezing.

"Tooth, thank you so much… I never thought that…"

"You're welcome, sweet tooth. Now come on. Let's go down stairs and show off your new style to everyone."

She holds out her hand and I take it.

"Tooth, there is the teensy problem of pretty much everyone down there hating my guts. Besides, most of them still think I'm dead anyways, except for you guys of course."

"It's okay, Nia. Just go down there, relax, and try to have fun. Alright? And if anything begins to get out of hand, one of us will be right there to help."

I took a deep breath and slowly counted to ten in my head, Greek. My special way of trying to calm down.

_Elna, theeo, treea, tesera, pende, excee, ephta, octo, enna, deka._

I nodded once, then stood. Star immediately came over and I placed my hand on her back, and took the first step towards my doom.

* * *

**Next chapter: PARTY!**

**So, anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Sorry for taking so long on it, but it's been pretty crazy lately. So, questions:**

**Q1. Is there anything that you would like to see happen at the party? Anyone that you would like her to meet, perhaps from her past, or for the first time ever at the party?**

**Q2. What should Aster do at the party? Watch Nia (suspiciously) or go and skulk somewhere?**

**Q3. Something we should all be wondering: what will Samara and Sapphire do when they return from hunting and find Nia gone?**

**So, thank you so much for reading and I hope to have another chapter up soon!**

**TMG4899**


End file.
